digital photography Digital photography uses cameras containing arrays of electronic photodetectors interfaced to an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to produce images focused by a lens, as opposed to an exposure on photographic film. The digitized image is sto ...

, the CYGM filter is an alternative

color filter array In digital imaging, a color filter array (CFA), or color filter mosaic (CFM), is a mosaic of tiny color filters placed over the pixel sensors of an image sensor to capture color information. The term is also used in reference to e paper devices ...

to the

Bayer filter A Bayer filter mosaic is a color filter array (CFA) for arranging RGB color filters on a square grid of photosensors. Its particular arrangement of color filters is used in most single-chip digital image sensors used in digital cameras, camco ...

(GRGB). It similarly uses a mosaic of pixel filters, of

cyan Cyan () is the color between green and blue on the visible spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a predominant wavelength between 490 and 520 nm, between the wavelengths of green and blue. In the subtractive color system, or CMYK color ...

yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the R ...

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

and

magenta Magenta () is a color that is variously defined as pinkish- purplish-red, reddish-purplish-pink or mauvish-crimson. On color wheels of the RGB (additive) and CMY (subtractive) color models, it is located exactly midway between red and blue. I ...

, and so also requires

demosaicing A demosaicing (also de-mosaicing, demosaicking or debayering) algorithm is a digital image process used to reconstruct a full color image from the incomplete color samples output from an image sensor overlaid with a color filter array (CFA). It is ...

to produce a full-color image.

Overview

CYGM gives more accurate

luminance Luminance is a photometric measure of the luminous intensity per unit area of light travelling in a given direction. It describes the amount of light that passes through, is emitted from, or is reflected from a particular area, and falls withi ...

information than the Bayer filter, hence a wider

dynamic range Dynamic range (abbreviated DR, DNR, or DYR) is the ratio between the largest and smallest values that a certain quantity can assume. It is often used in the context of signals, like sound and light. It is measured either as a ratio or as a base-1 ...

, but at the expense of color accuracy. This is because the cyan and yellow components of the colour filter array do not produce a true monochromatic yellow or cyan but are rather modifications of the filters used to absorb 'color'. Under the conventional

trichromatic Trichromacy or trichromatism is the possessing of three independent channels for conveying color information, derived from the three different types of cone cells in the eye. Organisms with trichromacy are called trichromats. The normal expl ...

theory, a 'green' measurement is taken by placing a color filter which absorbs 'red' and 'blue' in front of the light sensor. A 'blue' measurement is taken with a 'green' and 'red' absorbing filter, and a 'red' measurement with a 'blue' and 'green' absorbing filter.

RGB The RGB color model is an additive color model in which the red, green and blue primary colors of light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors. The name of the model comes from the initials of the three additiv ...

is therefore derived by using filters which each absorb 2/3 of the spectrum for each measurement. This means in practice that much of the light that falls upon the sensor array is absorbed by the filters (which typically employ dyes to absorb light within a broad range of wavelengths). The CYGM color filter array differs from the standard Bayer filter by using only a single color-absorbing filter for 3 of the 4 sensors. This produces a broad spectral response and therefore makes measurements more accurate in respect to luminance (that is, taking measurements of how much light there is) but makes it more difficult to determine color information accurately. While 'green' is unaffected, color inaccuracy arises from the fact that the red and blue sensors (as found in the standard

) are in effect conflated into 'magenta' and 'cyan' sensors. This is shown by a graph of the spectral response of the CYGM sensor. While the CYGM filter found widespread adoption in the early years of digital photography, at the time a rival of the now standard Bayer filter, it is now considered obsolete. CCDs that used it include the 3 megapixel

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

ICX252AK and ICS252AKF (which sampled in October 1999.) CCDs with a CYGM color filter array were initially adopted by both Canon and Nikon when these companies transitioned from film photography to digital. Many

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western can ...

models of the 1999-2000 period, such as the PowerShot S10, the Canon Digital IXUS S100 (June 2000), and the

Canon PowerShot G1 The Canon PowerShot G is a series of digital cameras introduced by Canon in its PowerShot line in 2000. The G series cameras are Canon's flagship compact models aimed at photography enthusiasts desiring more flexibility than a point-and-shoot with ...

used sensors with this colour filter arrangement. Whereas Canon adopted the now standard

across its entire range when it introduced the

DSLR A digital single-lens reflex camera (digital SLR or DSLR) is a digital camera that combines the optics and the mechanisms of a single-lens reflex camera with a digital imaging sensor. The reflex design scheme is the primary difference between ...

, Nikon continued to produce and sell a range of mid-range enthusiast digital cameras using CYGM sensors for a period of approximately 5 years. From the prominent Nikon Coolpix 995 (still used a decade later in specialist applications like microscopy) to the Nikon Coolpix 5700 (the last Nikon camera to use CYGM). Additionally, Panasonic also used CCDs with a CYGM filter array. These were internally referred to as 'complementary color filters'.

List of cameras with a CYGM colour filter array

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cygm Filter Image sensors Color filter array

Overview

List of cameras with a CYGM colour filter array

See also

References